A nice walk will be nice!
Day one
Oh yes, I see these signs all over the place!
とびだし注意スピード落とせ
とびだし - 飛び出し - something that leaps or thrusts out
注意 - ちゅうい - attention, caution, warning, etc
スピード - speed
落とせ - imperative form of 落とす - to drop, to let fall
I should hope this is a message warning car drivers that things (children etc) may suddenly appear in the road and that they should slow down.
However, roads here are designed for cars, not people, and, as in this picture, quite often the pavement is nothing more than a painted line on the road. The assumption is that the car is king and everything else has to get out of the way.
I’ve never seen a speed bump or a chicane here in my part of Tokyo, never seen a single traffic calming measure. Little streets with painted pavements are still two-way, despite being so narrow that two cars can’t pass without removing all space for pedestrians or cyclists.
So sadly I suspect this sign, on an extremely narrow and dangerous pavement, is actually aimed at kids, telling them to not run into the road, rather than at cars, telling them to slow down.
Day two - love this one!
Difficult! In real life I’d take one look at that wall of unknown kanji and grammar and just decide to keep on walking. But today, I’m pulling out my phone and looking things up on Jisho!
お知らせ
受動喫煙防止の観点から
灰皿を撤去させていただきました
こちらでの喫煙はご遠慮ください
店主
お知らせ - おしらせ - notice
受動喫煙 - じゅどうきつえん - passive smoking
防止 - ぼうし - prevention
の - possessive particle
観点 - かんてん - point of view
から - from
灰皿 - はいざら - ashtray/s
を - object marker
撤去 - てっきょ - remove, take away
させていただきました - grammar which is way beyond my level
こちらでの - here
喫煙 - きつえん - smoking
は - topic marker
ご - polite prefix
遠慮 - えんりょ - restraint
ください - please
店主 - てんしゅ - shop owner/manager
Notice
In order to prevent passive smoking
We have taken away the ashtrays
Please don’t smoke here
The manager
I love it! Love it, love it, love it! Smoking is one of the worst things about life in Japan. Yes, it’s much, much better than it used to be, but there’s still so much of it!
I get it particularly bad because there is a young couple who live next door to me and they both smoke. Okay, they only do it indoors, but their poisonous foul-smelling smoke still comes out of their flat and into ours. We have lived here for years and have never been able to open our windows because of their disgusting addiction.
So, yes, every time I see any kind of push-back against smoking, my heart leaps in celebration! Well done that shop!
Day three
What kind of place is the ad for?
インドアゴルフスクール - indoor golf school!
What do you get for 7980円/month (+ initial new membership fee)?
習い放題
ならいほうだい
unlimited lessons
回数制限なし!
かいすうせいげんなし!
Unlimited number of visits.
毎日通ってもOK!
まいにちとおってもOK!
Coming everyday is okay!
初心者大歓迎
しょしんしゃだいかんげい
Beginners welcome
使い放題!
つかいほうだい!
Unlimited use!
It seems to say that it is “Open 24hours” on the bottom left, how come there is also something that looks like their hours of operation?
Ah, that’d be the opening hours of their 受付, うけつけ, reception desk. Though I’m not sure what it means to say 無料受付, むりょううけつけ, free reception, unless it means that by calling in your can get information for free (rather than forking out the cost of a phonecall).
Either way, 7,980円 a month?! Think I’ll pass on this one!
Day four
Itoyokado is great if you like to listen to the Beatles played on panpipes. For the decade or more I’ve been going there, the background music hasn’t changed once!
Anyway, on to the carts…
お願い
おねがい
Please…
お子様がお乗りの際はカートから手を放さないで下さい
おこさまがおのりのさいはカートからてをはなさないでください
Please don’t remove your hands from the cart when a child is riding in it
不注意による事故については責任を負いかねます
ふちゅういによるじこについてはせきにんをおいかねます
We do not accept responsibility for accidents caused by carelessness
貴重品は必ず手にお持ち下さい
きちょうひんはかならずてにおもちください
Please keep hold of your valuables at all times
ご利用後は所定の位置にお戻し下さい
ごりようごはしょていのいちにおもどしください
After use, please return to the proper place
Happy Shopping!
Day five
What is the area for?
お客様用バイク一時置場
おきゃくさまようバイクいちじおきば
Lit: customer - use - motorbike - temporary - storage (parking).
Short-stay motorbike parking area for the use of customers.
I was initially confused here. It’s obviously a parking spot for motorbikes, but I didn’t get the 一時 part. One o’clock parking? One hour limit? Then I saw that 一時 also means ‘temporarily’! Bingo!
What does the store manager ask not to do?
営業時間外の 駐輪は ご遠慮ください
えいぎょうじかんがいのちゅうりんはごえんりょください
営業 - business hours
時間 - time / hours
外 - outside
の - particle
駐輪 - bike parking
は - particle
ご遠慮ください - please refrain from
Please don’t park outside of shop opening hours.
長時間駐車の場合は警告シールを貼らせて頂きますのでご了承下さい
長時間 - long time
駐車 - parking
の場合は - if (in the case that you park for a long time)
警告シール - warning sticker
を - object marker
貼らせて - 張る, to stick + grammar I don’t understand
頂きますので - no idea
ご了承 - understanding
下さい - please
Please understand that we’ll plaster your beautiful bike with super-ugly super-adhesive stickers if we think you’ve been parking here for too long. No dilly-dallying allowed in Japan you know!
Day six
Aaaarrggghh! Hand-written text! Let’s see Google Translate can do with this (every day I cheat, today I’ll be cheating even more)!
What kind of shop is Toramo?
ストレッチ - stretch
専門 - せんもん - speciality
It’s a stretch shop!
1000円 for 30 minutes seem to be a great price, is this available for everybody?
No, sorry, that’d be a 初回限定…
初回 - しょかい - first time
限定 - げんてい - limit, restriction
Limited to new customers only.
Name one kind of person who they would recommend their services.
腰の痛み - こしのいたみ - lower back pain
肩の重さ - かたのおもさ - heavy shoulders
姿勢 の悪さの身体のさ - しせいのわるさのしんたいのさ - bad posture
むくみ - swelling
Sounds about right for me! But I can’t afford the introductory price let alone the regular price, whatever that might be. I’m better off finding a good YouTube video instead! Stretching is free!
Day seven
Happy New Year everyone!
With that much red text and two exclamation marks, it’s probably something we should make sure we understand. What does the sign say?
入居者及び関係者以外の
自転車・バイク等は
置かないで下さい!!
(発見次第撤去します)
建物管理
大東建託株
入居者 - にゅうきょしゃ - tenant, resident
及び - および - and, as well as
関係者 - かんけいしゃ - persons concerned
以外 - いがい - with the exception of; excepting; excluding
の - particle
自転車 - じてんしゃ - bicycles
バイク - motorbikes
等 - など - etc
は - topic marker
置かないで下さい!! - おかないでください!!- please don’t leave!!
発見 - はっけん - discovery; detection; finding
次第 - しだい - as soon as; immediately after; upon
撤去します - てっきょします - remove
建物 - たてもの - building
管理 - かんり - management
大東建託株 - name of company
Unless you are a resident or visitor, please don’t leave your bike or motorbike or whatever here. Anything left here will be removed.
The management
Thanks again for another great week ‘in the wild’! Looking forward to next week!